The invention pertains to a hollow-interior vehicle door consisting of an internal in its entirety essentially pot-shaped or pan-shaped stiffening structure, and at least one outer panel element being supported by the essentially pot-shaped or pan-shaped stiffening structure, such as a outer door skin, and optionally an inner panel element, in which the essentially pot-shaped or pan-shaped stiffening structure serves to accommodate functional parts of the vehicle door, such as a hinge, hinge plate or other moving element and/or a closure element, which are or can be connected to the essentially pot-shaped or pan-shaped stiffening structure or are housed in it.
In conventional vehicle doors it is common to join a supporting and in its entirety essentially pot-shaped or pan-shaped stiffening structure, a so-called inside panel, to the essentially lid-shaped outer panel by peripheral welding, flanging or adhesion, and to install the vehicle door in this state in the vehicle with the door opening to be closed, with or without functional parts such as lock, hinge, window lift and the like already installed in the support element. For some time, the essentially pot-shaped or pan-shaped stiffening structure has been provided on the inside of the vehicle with a closable service opening, wherein an essentially flat lid extending essentially vertically closes said service opening. As a rule, this lid consists of thin plain sheet metal which is slightly formed to fit to the functional parts to be accommodated and which supports some of the functional parts, such as a window lift, a speaker and the like and which has a sealable fastening edge to be bolted to the actual essentially pot-shaped or pan-shaped stiffening structure and to seal the service opening. The actual essentially pot-shaped or pan-shaped stiffening structure consists of a so-called inside panel, which is shaped relatively extensively and forms both the inner side wall of the door interior featuring the service opening and running parallel to the door and the outward-extending side walls of the hollow door interior which extend in the direction perpendicular to the door, and which is permanently joined at its outer edge to the so-called outside panel forming the door skin by the aforementioned flanging process or the like.
Despite the considerable size of the service opening, assembly of the known vehicle door as well as service work require considerable effort, particularly with respect to the raisable and lowerable window panes, which are largely submerged in the door interior in the open state. The installation of a desirable second door seal, particularly in the form of a continuous peripheral gasket proves difficult and prone to malfunctions with the known vehicle doors.